Aftermath
by The Watch Stander
Summary: What Happens after Azati Prime? Archer's gone, the ship is being destroyed! No spoilers, I haven't a clue what they are intending to do! I just like to write my own endings!


Aftermath

The Watch Stander

Disclaimer: Paramount owns everything Star Trek and everyone in its crew. I just do this for fun not profit, but if they are reading this and need a script please email. 

I watched Azati Prime and really felt that it needed something more, so here's my version of how I think it should end. Reviews are always welcome and thank you for taking the time to write them. 

***********************

Trip kept thinking back to everything that had happened in the past six hours as he waited in engineering for the proverbial ax to fall. The Captain had left them behind to go on a suicide mission, not even stopping to think how stupid a move it was. Trip couldn't believe that Jon went ahead and did it, only to fail. His sacrifice was all for naught!

Now T'Pol was acting strange, trying to leave and rescue the Captain knowing it was just as hopeless. If Reed hadn't called when he did, Trip would have punched her in the jaw and called for Phlox to restrain her. There was no way he would have let her go and be killed. Losing Jon was bad enough, he wasn't about to lose her as well!

No one is acting normal!

The ship shook then from weapons discharge bringing him back to their present predicament, the Xindi ships that were approaching. All hell suddenly broke loose making seconds seem like minutes as everything and everyone were thrown about engineering. Plasma coils kept rupturing faster than they could be shut down until there was no longer any power.

Trip could feel the ship careening out of control, no longer answering her helm. Fires were everywhere! People were being injured all around him as the ship was systematically being destroyed.

Communications finally went dead and he made the decision to abandon engineering before they were all either fried or gassed by the burning plasma.

"Everyone out!" 

No one had to be told twice as everyone made for the door to the hallway outside where they could exit before bulkhead doors sealed them inside. 

Two crewman were just behind Trip, they were the last three to leave. He ran slightly ahead of them to keep the bulkhead door open. As he almost reached the controls, a plasma relay blew sending him careening against a bulk head. 

Trip landed in a heap, blackness and silence had finally claimed him. 

***************************

On the bridge T'Pol watched in shock as everything fell apart around her. She was no longer able to control the ship.

The Captain was gone, Enterprise was being destroyed, and people she knew were dying around her

and there was nothing,

nothing she could do....to save them!

***********************

Lt Reed couldn't believe the mayhem around him, everything was either burning or falling. Overhead panels had been blown open, the bridge crew were all either injured or stunned. He gave a helping hand to one crewman as the ship finally spiraled out of control into the waiting space. 

T'Pol sat frozen in her chair, too shocked to give any orders, so Reed went ahead and aided whomever he could trying to get them to sickbay. He would come back for her, they no longer had control over any part of the ship and that included weapons. There was no point in his staying on the bridge, for he would need to gather the Macos and probably fight off a boarding party.

That is, if the Xindi didn't just blow Enterprise up.

Reed left the injured crewman at sickbay and was just heading out the door when most of engineering staggered in coughing and smelling of smoke. There were many injured among them, but no Commander Tucker in sight.

He wondered if Trip was still there in engineering trying to get the power back up. However there was no time to worry about that right now, so he hastened away to find Major Hayes and get ready for whatever fate awaited them.

Enterprise slowly fell away from the attacking Xindi ships and drifted into a nearby nebula forcing the smaller ships to call off the attack as fighting in a nebula was very foolish with little or no visibility. They were more likely to end up shooting each other in there. 

Enterprise had won for now, or had postponed her destruction at least for a short time.

******************************

Enterprise was never boarded thanks to the nebula and there was now time to look for the injured and help them to sickbay. Many of the Macos had some basic medical training and had been commandeered for sickbay. Phlox couldn't handle all the wounded by himself. 

Hayes and Reed formed rescue parties to look for missing crewmen. Fearing the worst they spent hours looking through wreckage for missing crew members. So far only nine crewmen had been found and there were still seven others missing, three of them engineers, including the Commander. 

Unfortunately, they were unable to search engineering for they had to wait for the air to clear before they opened the doors. No one knew what to expect, but they didn't want to risk an explosion due to all the coolant leaks and blown relays.

When they finally gained access, it was Reed who came across Trip lying against the bulkhead covered by debris and wreckage just inside the bulkhead door. Hayes found the two other engineers nearby and they were both long dead. 

Trip was just hanging by a thread and Malcolm feared he would die before they ever got him to sickbay.

Somehow they managed to get him there and Phlox seeing them enter with the Commander steered them to a bed in the back. He immediately went to work on Trip.

Malcolm stood there for a moment by the bed and stared at Trip, afraid that this would be the last time he saw him alive. Finally unable to do anything to help, he left for there were others to find that he might still be able to save. 

If they survived this it would be one day that he would never forget!

*******************

Several days later Jonathan Archer suddenly appeared in an Xindi ship. 

The Xindi council had believed him and allowed him to leave and go back to his ship. The insectoids had lied all along about their involvement with the sphere builders and the council was not pleased. 

Because of this there was a possibility of a civil war among the five species that Archer didn't want any part of, 

he just wanted to be back on Enterprise with his crew.

As he came aboard through the airlock between the ships, he was greeted by his bridge crew and senior officers minus one. 

Archer couldn't remember ever being this happy just to see people again that he worked with.

They all looked ragged and exhausted, but to him they were the best sight he'd ever seen. He could tell that they returned the sentiment for Hoshi actually ran to him and hugged him with tears in her eyes. His eyes started to water as well when everyone greeted him with warm wishes and remarks of "so glad to see you, sir". 

T'Pol just stood there, unable to speak ,her Vulcan reserve threatening to break at any moment, so Jon let her be for the moment. There would be plenty of time later to talk about what had happened. 

Reed and Travis shook his hand warmly, but Trip was nowhere in sight. 

When he asked about Trip everyone's mood changed, Reed looked stricken and turned away, Hoshi's eyes started to tear up. 

Suddenly, Jon was afraid of what the answer might be.

Before he could say more, Phlox stepped forward and took his arm. 

He told Jon that he needed to take him to sickbay and he could visit with everyone later. Jon had to agree since he wasn't in very good shape despite being treated by the medical staff aboard Degra's ship. His legs still felt like rubber bands and with all the emotional greetings he'd just gone through he needed to sit down.

As Jon entered sickbay he looked around at all the filled beds and knew what his crew had been through. When they had approached Enterprise Degra had kept him busy talking so that he couldn't see its condition, however walking through the halls to sickbay had given him a good idea of what had happened. There was devastation everywhere. The whole ship had been through hell it seemed.

"How's Porthos?" he finally asked and with dread added,"What happened to Trip?"

Phlox almost smiled at him, "Come this way, Captain." He led him to the back of sickbay where there was a single bed surrounded by a curtain. Pulling the curtain slowly aside revealed Commander Tucker lying there, with Porthos's head resting on his side. Trip's hand lay on Porthos's back. 

Phlox smiled when he saw where Trip's hand lay. Earlier Trip had shown signs of awaking, but Phlox had to leave to join the others in welcoming Captain Archer back.

Porthos raised his head and barked happily when he saw Archer, causing Trip to stir at the sudden noise.

Jon hurried over to the bedside and quickly patted the dog to shush him.

"Easy boy, I'm glad to see you too," He whispered.

Phlox smiled, glad to see the three finally reunited. "I had to leave here to meet you, so I left Porthos with the Commander. This way if the Commander awakened while I was gone he would have a friend to greet him, so to speak." 

Archer continued to pat the dog and finally took a good look at Trip. Other than a very large black and blue on his forehead and a very pale face, there didn't seem to be any outward appearances of injuries. 

Jon turned to Phlox, "How is he?"

Phlox became serious, "There are internal injuries, broken ribs and the like, but that's not what worries me. He was trapped in the hall near engineering for several hours and inhaled a lot of smoke from burning plasma. "

He lowered his voice, "I'm not sure he will make it, Captain."

Archer looked stricken, to have come this far only to lose Trip at the end. It was a bitter pill to swallow and Archer felt a lump start to form in his throat as grief welled up inside him.

Trip's eyes were starting to open and Archer looked at Phlox. "Could I have a few minutes with him?"

Phlox nodded, "Of course, I'll be right over here if you need me. " He turned and walked over to a scanner on the wall where all of the patients readings were electronically monitored.

Trip heard familiar voices so he thought he wasn't dead, but it took him a long time to open his eyes. The face he saw staring down at him changed his mind. He must be dead for there stood Captain Archer. Seeing the Captain standinging there overwhelmed Trip, his eyes started to tear thinking that he too had died. It broke his heart to know that they had all failed.

"Capt'n" he finally managed to whisper in a shaking voice filled with despair.

Porthos, sensing Trip's emotions, broke away from Jon's grip and went up to Trip and lapped his face. 

Jon laughed and gathered the dog back up into his arms. "Easy boy, let him wake up, you know how cranky he is without his coffee."

It was Porthos lapping his face and Jon's words that made Trip realize he wasn't dead and here indeed stood his Captain and friend!

Tears slowly slid down Trip's cheeks, it was too much for him. This made him cough and realize that he was having trouble breathing for his lungs and chest hurt so much. 

Archer could see he was upset.

"Doc says that you need a friend, so I thought maybe Porthos and I could fit the bill and make you get well," Archer said softly.

Trip looked at them sadly knowing he was seriously hurt by the way he felt inside, somehow sensing that he was dying. 

Jon reached down and squeezed his shoulder as he said seriously, "Let's make it a habit from now on that we watch waterpolo every Friday night! I've missed our doing that and right now I could use a friend as well. So what do you say?"

He was trying his best to reach Trip and make him fight harder to stay alive for he didn't want to think of what it would be like without his best friend beside him. They had been through too much together to have it all end like this. Trip was the only remnant of family that he had left. It would be like losing a younger brother and would break his heart if he died.

Jon wasn't aware that T'Pol had come into sickbay and was now standing a short distance away listening to what he was saying to the Commander. 

A tear slowly slid down her cheek and she wiped it away, aware now that her emotions were out of her control. The expanse had finally taken its toll on her as well. 

However, their mission was over and now they could go back home. They had somehow survived and in doing so had somehow managed to save earth and humanity as well.

With the Captain alive and back, she just had to worry about one other crew member. He lay on that bed before her and her heart broke at the thought that he just might die. Her earlier harsh words to him now came back to haunt her for he had only been trying to prevent her from getting herself killed. She knew now how irrational she had acted.

It hadn't been one of her prouder moments. 

Phlox spotted her and signaled for her to go ahead and walk over to where the Captain and Trip were.

Jon smiled when he saw her and she nodded to him, but her main attention was on Commander Tucker. His eyes were half closed and filled with pain, but a slight smile reached his lips when he saw her approaching.

Had he forgiven her? She didn't know, but she stepped up to the bed on the opposite side from the Captain and leaning over, gently kissed Trip on the forehead. Jon didn't say a word, even Trip looked surprised. 

She slowly stepped back. "You must get well, Commander, we all need you back." Her voice was steady, but filled with surfacing emotion that reflected her feelings. Feelings that she could no longer control. 

Trip smiled not knowing what to say to this.

Suddenly, Malcolm appeared followed by Hoshi and Travis all smiling at Trip, glad to see him awake. Phlox had quietly called them all down to sickbay, telling them that Commander Tucker was finally awake. 

Members of his engineering staff were gathering around as well, Rostov, Kelly and others.

Trip was overwhelmed by all of this sudden attention. Porthos in the excitement had once more gotten loose from Jon and was lapping Trip's face once again. 

Despite how bad he felt Trip knew somehow he could pull through this if he really tried. He needed to get better....

His friends and the crew were counting on him to fix Enterprise.

So they all could finally go home.... 

END


End file.
